(RALEIGH, N.C.) — North Carolina’s GOP statehouse leaders say the legislature will meet next week to consider redrawing the state’s congressional districts, saying they want to bolster President Donald Trump as the White House continues to encourage Republicans to redistrict mid-decade ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

“President Trump earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat,” state Rep. Destin Hall, the speaker of the North Carolina House, wrote in a blog post on Monday.

The Republican-controlled legislature was already scheduled to meet next week. Although North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein is a Democrat, the state’s constitution doesn’t allow him to veto re

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